Notebook

Duma Active

The State Duma has been active this fall. First, it passed amendments allowing for free transfer to the Orthodox Church of land on which churches, monasteries and other religious institutions reside. Many churches and monasteries, Russian media reported, which for some time have been museums, are also being handed back to the Church.

Second, the Duma continued its crackdown on beer producers (see Russian Life, September/October 2004). If current amendments to the beer bill are passed, Russians will no longer enjoy the cherished right to drink beer on the street, at the bus stop, inside the metro and in other public places, Kommersant reported. Offenders will be fined R100 ($3.40). Experts estimate that beer consumed from the bottle or can on the street now amounts to as much as 30% of all sales. Thus, beer producers could lose over $1 billion in sales if the bill is passed.

The beer bill also bans broadcast of TV beer commercials from 7 am until 10 pm and disallows the use of people or animals in TV spots. Beer producers are already looking for ways to get around the restrictions, including using aliens, monsters and even a Cyclops in commercials, Profil weekly magazine reported.

Finally, the Duma plans to consider a bill on state holidays that would increase the number of days off and cancel the day off for November 7th’s Great October Socialist Revolution anniversary. The bill would extend the official New Year’s holiday from 1 January to 5 January and eliminate the Day of Reconciliation and Accord, which is now celebrated on  November 7, the anniversary of the 1917 Revolution. However, Russians would be compensated with a new holiday: National Unity Day, to be celebrated 4 November, the anniversary of the 1612 liberation of Muscovy from the Poles. The bill would also cancel the December 12th holiday (Constitution Day) and introduce  April 27, 2006 as the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Russian State Duma.

Out with the Old...

After Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed the abolition of direct elections for top regional officials (to be replaced by presidential appointments), governors were quick to sense which way the wind was blowing, and lined up to join the party in power. On September 22, Unified Russia leader and Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov announced that 10 regional governors had signed up to join Unified Russia. Gryzlov said 20 more were expected to join in the near future. Various media reported that about half of Russia’s 89 governors have already joined Unified Russia. Gryzlov said Unified Russia now has some 700,000 members. 

However, even while some are joining, others are leaving. Almost all of Unified Russia’s leading members in Kursk have decided to leave the ranks of the Party in Power, gazeta.ru reported on September 22. Local party leader Viktor Mamay, who initiated the split, said he and other members had lost faith in Unified Russia, because “its words don’t match its deeds and its bureaucracy is even worse than in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” Mamay said he and 34 other Kursk leaders were joining a new, largely unknown party, Civil Network of Russia, taking with them hundreds of ordinary party members. 

 

Vodka, Not Guns

General Mikhail Kalashnikov, inventor of the famous AK-47 rifle, lent his name to a new vodka brand, gazeta.ru reported. Kalashnikov Vodka is the brainchild of British entrepreneur John Florey. It took Florey two years to track down the inventor and persuade him to put his name on the project. The vodka is being made at a distillery in St. Petersburg. “I’ve always wanted to improve and expand on the good name of my weapon by doing good things,” the 84-year-old Kalashnikov told Reuters. “So we decided to create a vodka under my name.”

 

Split Widens

Gennady Zyuganov’s mainstream Communist Party (KPRF) faced a further split [see Russian Life, September/October 2004] when its dissident members founded another communist party in September. The new party was dubbed the All-Russian Communist Party of the Future (VKPB), a pun on a previous VKPB – the old All-Russian Party of Bolsheviks. The VKPB is led by Ivanovo Regional Governor Vladimir Tikhonov.

The KPRF faction in the State Duma avenged VKPB’s move by expelling three members who participated in VKPB’s founding congress: Leonid Ivanchenko, Yelena Drapeko, and Alexander Kuvayev, on the grounds that they had caused political and moral damage. The KPRF faction in the Duma thereby shrunk from 51 to 48 members.

 

State’s Rights 

On September 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree introducing state support and funding for human rights groups, Vremya Novostey reported. The decree establishes the International Human Rights Center to protect the rights of Russians living abroad. It also orders Putin’s regional envoys to cooperate with human rights groups. The decree recommends that Russian regional authorities provide funding for human rights ombudsmen.

 

Cliburn Returns

US pianist Van Cliburn visited Moscow in September to hold a concert in the Moscow Conservatory in memory of terror victims. Cliburn met with President Vladimir Putin, who awarded him the Order of Friendship for his contribution to US-Russian cultural cooperation. 

The 70-year old Van Cliburn first came to Moscow in 1958 as a young music school graduate and won the prestigious First International Tchaikovsky Competition with his performance of Tchaikovsky’s First Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. 

 

Russian Monopoly 

Russian entrepreneurs have designed a Russian version of the Monopoly game, which is played by the “rules” that govern Russia’s business and public sector, Russian Center TV reported. Players can purchase a post in a state agency, end up in foreign exile or in jail, buy oil companies, soccer clubs or Duma deputies, bribe state officials and do other things that are “business as usual” here. Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s press center has already expressed interest in the game and plans to hold a tournament. The dollar banknotes used in the game features the faces of President Putin, Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov and other key players on the Russian political field. 

Belgorod Crackdown

Belgorod Regional Governor Yevgeny Savchenko has launched a war on profanity, Vedomosti newspaper reported. Television, radio and billboards are to be used as key anti-profanity propaganda tools, advertising such slogans as “Mat [Russian for “profanity”] is not our format” (Мат – не наш формат!) or “To do well in life it is better not to swear.” (Чтобы в жизни состояться, матом лучше не ругаться.) 

The budget for the anti-profanity program is R1.1 million, but might well pay off. The Russian Administrative Offences Code classifies use of foul language as “petty hooliganism.” Belgorod authorities are exploiting this provision and urging police to collect fines for profanity, offering the police a 30% commission on all fines collected. Between July 15 and September 15, Belgorod police collected R511,831 in profanity fines. Young people under 30 were the bulk of offenders, Vedomosti reported. 

Meanwhile, late in September, the Belgorod Regional Duma passed a curfew law which bans children under 16 from being on the streets, in public places, and in apartment entryways after 10 pm in winter and after 11 pm in summer, Interfax reported. 

 

Russia’s Dirtiest

RBK-Rating and the Main Geophysical Observatory (MGO) have compiled the first-ever environmental rating of Russian cities, Izvestiya reported. Bratsk, Yekaterinburg, Kemerovo, Kurgan, Lipetsk and Magnitogorsk top the list as Russia’s dirtiest cities. While Moscow ranks as 40th dirtiest, its southern region, where the city’s industries are concentrated, ranked seventh. Scientists say cars are responsible for most cities’ pollution. MGO’s Sergei Chicherin told Izvestiya that automobile exhaust accounts for 80% of Moscow’s and St. Petersburg’s pollution. The pollutants are, on average, 68% carbon oxides, 15% solid substances and 10% sulfur dioxide. 

 

Chelyuskin Unfound?

Late in August, Russian media reported that a search expedition had found the Chelyuskin icebreaker that sunk in the Chukchi Sea 70 years ago [see Russian Life, July/August 2004]. Yet, shortly thereafter, authorities in Chukotka denied the reports. As it turned out, expedition members were not sure whether they had actually found the Chelyuskin. They said they had found an object covered by silt on the seabed, but could not definitely determine whether it was a sunken ship or a sea cliff. 

For the first time ever, divers used a remote-controlled robot in the freezing waters off  Chukotka, looking for the legendary icebreaker. Expedition head Aleksei Mikhailov said that next year they might make additional search forays, if they can find funding.

In 1933, the Chelyuskin departed on the Northern Sea Route from Leningrad to Vladivostok. The expedition was led by Otto Schmidt. On February 13, 1934, the Chelyuskin was caught in pack ice and crushed. One person died and the other 104 passengers and crew were rescued. 

 

Stukach Redux?

Noviye Izvestiya reported that the Duma is preparing legislation that would pay city residents to inform on unregistered aliens living or working in the cities. Duma Legislation Committee Chairman Vladimir Pligin (Unified Russia) said, “It is time to move away from the vulgar term ‘snitch,’ [stukach],” adding that paying for information about illegal residents “is not the worst part of our present circumstances.”

 

PermaSpam

Russian scientists have unwittingly discovered that canned meat can be preserved for over a century in permafrost, with no noticeable loss in taste or nutrition, Russian media reported this August. In 1900, Russian polar explorer Eduard Toll dug four food stores into the permafrost of the Taymyr peninsula. The expedition used up three. In 1974, a Soviet expedition that had learned about the remaining cache found Toll’s tinned shchi [cabbage soup] and meat, which proved to be unspoiled and just as tasty as 74 years ago. That 1974 expedition dug another food store in the permafrost, this time to deliberately continue the experiment. In August, another expedition returned and dug up the 30-year-old foodstuffs, concluding that the tinned Soviet meat tasted better than comparable meat from today. The next tasting is to take place in 2050. This time, vodka was been added to the cache. 

 

Brezhnev Reloaded

Leonid Brezhnev, today remembered mostly in jokes about his protracted rule and meager mental capacities, has been immortalized in a monument on a main street in Novorossiysk. The unveiling was timed to coincide with the anniversary of Novorossiysk’s liberation from the Nazis. Brezhnev worked in Novorossiysk during WWII. The two-meter-high monument, sculpted by Alexander Bugayev, was sponsored by local businessmen. 

 

Number of nature reserves to be established in Moscow by 2020: 257

Percent of the city they will cover: 21.1% 

Average price of petrol in Russia, per liter, in January and September 2004: R11; R15

Russian gold reserves as of 17 September: $92.6 billion

Capital flight from Russia in 2004: R9 billion

Amount of uranium stolen in Russia over the last 25 years: 100 kg 

Number of teachers that Russian schools need: 21,000

Amount the Russian government spent on the Russian Olympic team 2000-2004: $15.53 million

Damage from economic crimes committed in Russia this year: R114 billion

Annual decrease in the Russian working population: 1,000,000

Decrease in Russia’s population expected by 2050: 41,000,000

Minimum amount of wage arrears due Kamchatka housing and utilities sector employees: R11 million

Number of Russian Muslims who will travel to Mecca and Medina in January: 9,000

 

Honoring GAI 

A monument to gaishniki (road policemen) has been unveiled in Belgorod. The statue features a lone officer and his Ural motorcycle. The sculptor, Anatoly Shishkov, used local gaishnik Pavel Grechikhin as his model. Russia’s road police are notorious for their bribe-taking, but the sculpted species was probably chosen for their impeccable service. 

 

“Citizens, do not worry, the State will do everything to protect you. If you do not get your fair share, if you do not live long enough to see it, at least your relatives will get it through the economy.”

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov
addressing cabinet meeting (Profil quoting Interfax) 

 

“This year, we also hope to start receiving from the United States the richest archives of the Russian first wave of emi-gra-tion. At the moment, only its weight is known – over five tons.”

 Vladimir Kozlov, federal archive agency head 

(Profil quoting Rossiyskaya Gazeta)

 

“Russia has hundreds of other, more talented Kalashnikovs, that England could not even dream about. And if they produce a name band vodka to honor each of them, misty Albion will become forever hidden behind alcohol vapors.” 

Fyodor Ladygin, former main reconnaissance directorate head,
about the new British vodka, Kalashnikov – see page 8 (Komsomolskaya Pravda)

 

“It is high time that Russia demand that the United Kingdom pay their debts for using the native Russian beverage – whiskey – as if it were their own. The recipe for this beverage was presented to Elizabeth by Ivan the Terrible. I propose that this matter be considered at parliamentary level.”

Sergei Baburin, State Duma vice-speaker (Komsomolskaya Pravda)

 

“I am not an idiot, I am a general.”

Svyatoslav Nabzdorov, commander of joint peacemaking force
in the Georgia-Ossetian conflict zone (Itogi)

 

“The problem of abortions is being hotly discussed in many countries, as we know. I think we should solve it together, jointly, in the interests, first and foremost, of all people.” 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to Orthodox Church officials (Itogi)

 

“It was Boris Abramovich Berezovsky, who did not have time for such petty things as passing along money, who introduced Roman Arkadevich Abramovich to the Kremlin.” 

Yevgeny Yasin, Higher School of Economics academic head (Itogi)

 

“Our government is fruit jelly, while it should be a hard
chunk of meat, well-roasted and well-baked – the people
will like it this way.”

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader (Itogi)

Russians who:

 

said the Beslan school siege
was a result of the Chechen war 39%

... of Russia’s Western enemies 12%

... of international terrorism 27%

 

feel authorities are only telling 

some of the truth about Beslan 56%

 

would have voted for Putin if 

elections were held in September 48%

 

oppose Putin’s proposal to cancel direct gubernatorial elections 48%

favor it 38% 

 

favor reintroducing school uniforms 70%

...oppose it 24% 

 

want the 2012 Olympics 

to be held in Moscow 80%

 

feel Russia was successful in Athens 53%

 

support the 1968 Soviet 

invasion of Czechoslovakia 28%

 

go on vacation twice a year 35%

...once a year 24%

...never 13% 

...four or more times per year 2%

 

do not trust Georgian President 

Mikheil Saakashvili 68%

 

feel Russia should use armed force
if the conflict escalates 

in Abkhazia or South Ossetia 18% 

 

buy new clothing at least once
every 2-3 months 34%

 

believe in God but cannot 

find time for prayer 37%

... pray less than once a month 21% 

... pray once a day 13% 

... pray several times a day 7% 

 

feel Russia should restart nuclear
testing (currently under moratorium) 13%

 

feel the outcome of the August 

1991 coup was a tragic event 36%

... a democratic victory 11%

 

feel Russia has been going in the
wrong direction since 1991 49%

 

feel the 1991 coup failure was
good for Russia 27%

 

say Russia & Ukraine should
be one country 36%

 

Feel trade unions at plants and
enterprises should be revived 61%

 

Approximately 1 in 5 Russians live below the poverty level, meaning they have a monthly income less than R1,000. In rural areas, 30.4% of the population is this poor; in cities, 15.7%. 

 

Russian’s draft defense budget for 2005 is R582.1 billion, or nearly 20% of the total budget. Just R172.2 billion has been allocated to fight poverty. According to Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, funding for the Federal Security Service (FSB) grew 300% over the last four years. 

 

In the first seven months of 2004, some 58,135 immigrants arrived in Russia from foreign countries (versus 79,128 in 2003), while 45,275 left for permanent residence abroad (54,161 in 2003). Thus, Russia had a net gain of 12,860 souls in January-July this year, versus 24,967 last year. 

 

The Russian government plans to dole out R20.1 billion in foreign credits in 2005. The largest credit, $437.9 million, will be given to India for a nuclear power station construction project. 

 

President Putin’s proposal to abolish direct election of governors would save Russia a considerable amount of money. St. Petersburg’s 2003 gubernatorial elections cost the city R56 million. Tatarstan spent R20 million on its elections; Sakhalin Region – R23 million; Irkutsk Region – R29 million; Omsk Region – R34 million; Sverdlovsk Region – R131 million. As most gubernatorial elections are every four years, Putin’s initiative could save the country an average of R675 million per year. 

 

This September, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov signed quotas for the number of cars with flashing lights allocated to state agencies. The Defense Ministry got 19, the Federal Security Service (FSB) 95, the Federal Guard Service (FSO) [agency responsible for providing security to top state officials] 105, and the Interior Ministry 230. There are now 633 cars with flashing lights belonging to various Russian agencies.